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Alchemy and the Goddess
My posts have been sparse lately as we travel coast to coast and back home. Experiencing all these climates has been enjoyable but a bit hard on the environmental body controls. Rosemary and I are both a bit under the weather (so to speak) from the changes. It was good to get home to Colorado last evening and back to our regular schedules. My posts will be regular again as well!
Last night Rosemary and I hosted our “First Monday” Spiritual Exploration Group meeting here in Colorado Springs. We had a good turn out for our topic of the month: What’s All This Hype about 2012? What’s the Basis for it and What Do We Think Might Happen? I found some interesting references to both Alchemy and the Goddess in my readings in preparation for the discussion. There seems to be a strong synchronistic potential at work in my life. The books I am choosing to read and the topics I am choosing to write about and discuss all align with the topic of this post. More of this as we work through the week
The first story of my current book on Alchemy (Alchemy, an Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology by Marie-Louise von Franz) is from the Codex Marcianus. It is called The Prophetess Isis to Her Son and is about Isis seeking the secret of “the holy technique” – the preparation of gold and silver. Interestingly Alchemy and the Goddess are immediately linked not only in my mind (see my post on March 25) but in the very first material I take up on the subject!
The story itself is fascinating: Isis encounters an angel who wants to have sex with her in exchange for the knowledge of alchemy. She puts him off until she obtains the knowledge; then he admits this is above him and he needs to hand her off to another more powerful angel. The next day the more powerful angel appears; this one too wants to have sex with Isis. Again she refuses until she receives the secrets of the preparation of gold and silver. In the story the recipe is actually presented but the names of the various substances used are so arcane as to be not identifiable today. But Isis does obtain the secret knowledge and is allowed to share it with her son, Horus.
The significant part of this is where von Franz takes the discussion: she draws the parallel between this myth and the creation myth of the Bible where Eve is the source of the “fall” when she suggests Adam eats the apple whereby they gain knowledge. Of course the Isis story is a positive one: not only does Isis succeed in gaining the information she sought, but she also avoided payment for it by not having sex with the angels. The Eve story is negative: the payment for the knowledge gained is expulsion from the garden. Von Franz would say both stories are archetypal and related; they likely have the same source. The Biblical story is much younger than the Isis story. How is it that the newer story was twisted to have a negative outcome to the gain of knowledge?
And this becomes the crux of the evolution of western civilization, even consciousness! There was an ancient track that seemed to consider knowledge as good. And women were the seekers and keepers of knowledge. This track was diverted a few thousand years ago to declare knowledge as evil; and the cause of this evil was Woman! What is this all about?
Is knowledge good or evil? You might think this is a silly question in the post-modern world of today when science and technology are supreme icons of advancement. But this debate continues. How many people today would still say Eve was wrong in offering the apple, knowledge, to Adam? How many people today deny the science behind the evolutionary process? Believe it or not there is still a sizable portion of the population of this country that believes the Earth is the center of the Universe! (And I suspect these people do not want to discover anything that would contradict their beliefs.)
Is knowledge evil; is ignorance bliss? The question is not as simple as it seems. My posts will continue to consider the question – as we seek answers through knowledge!
Alchemy?
Rosemary and I are moving into the “scurry” phase of life getting ready to travel for the next 10 days. We are going west first for a workshop for “holistic practitioners” to gain traction in the market place. Since I left the field of marketing in the corporate world more than two years ago I have learned a great deal about how to market in the new world of Web 2.0 and all that goes with it. One of the purposes in my retirement was to devote full time to getting the word out about Rosemary and her gifts. And I’ve been scrambling ever since. I frequently tell people “I don’t know how I ever found time for a 9 to 5 job before retiring!
From the west we are heading all the way east for some family time and to plan a wedding for some very dear friends of ours. So, if you notice a day or two of missing blog posts you’ll know why. (I thought another thing I had retired from was frequent travel! I retired from an airline communications company for which travel was second nature. That nature seems to have followed me into retirement.)
I am the blessed and frequent recipient of Rosemary’s gifts! Last night she hosted “Conversations with The Other Side,” one of her regular events where participants get messages from The Other Side – from loved ones who have crossed over, angels, guides and spirit guides. It is always a good time with some laughter, some tears, and deep wisdom.
And true to form I did receive some fascinating messages last evening concluding with a visit by a “wizard from the middle ages”! And, yes, historic personalities, real and legendary, do show up from time to time; we also had John Adams make an appearance last night. The message from my wizard guide was to take a close look at alchemy; to “tune into the teachings of alchemy at the very deepest levels. Understanding of alchemy, about what we can do with ourselves, is becoming more and more needed on the planet because the whole evolution of human consciousness is relying on alchemical shifts within human beings. That’s how the energy shift is going to happen.”
OK, then! No problem here; I’ll get right on it! Seriously we do have several books on alchemy which I’ll be taking with me as I travel. And I do have a background, my first degree, in chemistry (not sure if this gives me a head start or not!).
Actually the real head start I have is a book I’ve been reading by Joseph Donlan: “Ordaining Reality.” (It’s now actually three books, the unabridged version and two abridged versions for people who want to get right to the meat.) Mr. Donlan states his purpose behind the books “is to explain the underlying laws of nature supporting the theory that positive thinking produces positive results. This knowledge will significantly enhance your ability to bring about desired changes in your life.” And if I hear my “wizard guide” correctly, alchemy can be used to bring about these desired changes. What I’m thinking is Mr. Donlan’s book is about the underpinnings of alchemy.
One of Rosemary’s favorite expressions is: “change your mind, change your life, change the world.” And I’ve seen this work time and again. Mr. Donlan’s work explains why this is so. Clearly there are alchemical processes at work here, and I’ll do a lot of further reading to not only discover these processes, but put them to work in my life and let you know how to activate them in yours!
At this point you may be wondering what this has to do with “The Goddess.”My message from “my wizard” was to investigate alchemy not for curiosity’s sake or for the academic enjoyment of the pursuit of knowledge. He said I need to help people “understand how alchemy happens in the 21st century – how people can get rid of the lower vibration of lead and turn it into the higher vibration of gold.” This is the ascendant story all over again; this is Inanna, born a Moon Goddess, descending to Earth to bless her people with growth, descending to the lower world to appease the Goddess Ereshkigal, rising again to reestablish her rightful place and ascending to the upper world again in her cycle of birth, life, death and new life. Lead vibration to gold vibration is part of this cycle. The golden grain from the fertile Earth is part of this cycle. The moon phases and Sun seasons are part of this cycle. My adventures into alchemy parallel my adventures with The Goddess.
Stay tuned for my further adventures!
Balance – Can you find that still point within?
Happy Spring! On Saturday, locally at 11:32 am, we officially greeted Spring’s arrival. And while your weather may not have been appropriate for this season of growth and greening, at least here in the northern hemisphere, it was nevertheless a point of balance for everyone everywhere. The equinoxes are celebrated as a time of year of equal light and dark. The Sun is up for very close to 12 hours and it is down for 12 hours. For example Sunrise on Saturday here in Colorado occurred at 7:04 am and Sunset was at 7:11 pm. Balance.
How do you define balance? And here I’m asking about your sense of balance as an individual moving through your life on Planet Earth. Of course there are many kinds of balance: balancing while riding a bicycle, balancing on one foot in a yoga asana, balancing a diet, a check-book, balancing times of work and play, activity and rest. These are all examples of physical balance. There is also balance to be found in emotions: balancing joy and sorrow for example; and balancing of mental activity: right and left brain balancing, creativity with logic; and there is spiritual balancing to consider: balancing an understanding of self and Self, sensing the presence of God and Goddess, masculine and feminine energies within.
The balancing of day and night amplifes this sense of balance in our lives at this equinox time. It is a good time to examine all these areas of balance to determine if there might be some shifting to do. Balance is not a static or rigid sense of maintaining a status quo of some sort. There is an essential dynamic to balance. When riding a bike subtle shifts in the body are required to maintain balance; and, of course, forward motion greatly adds to the balancing act. All balancing acts require adjustments and tests to find and maintain the balance point.
Spiritual balance can be found, tested and adjusted on the inside. There is a still-point within where the breath eases, where the mind quiets, where emotions become submerged; this is a fulcrum of balance. Some people feel this in their heart-center, the fourth chakra, middle most of the seven. Some people find it in their dantien, especially the lower dantien in martial arts applications. It is in this inner balance point where God meets Goddess, where self meets Self, where the natural world meets emptiness, where no-thing meets the All. This is a highly dynamic center, full of life and change. But it is is a quiet place and the changes are subtle.
When we find this place of balance inside ourselves all other parts of our lives come into balance. Stress eases, ease strengthens, heaviness lightens, lightness deepens, masculinity softens, softness toughens, roughness smooths, smoothness texturizes. The polar energies swirl about one another, as in the Tai Chi symbol: yin swimming into yang, yang spiraling around yin; dark to light, light to dark dynamically balanced, ever changing, always the same, never static, spiraling upward.
Enjoy these days of balance subtly moving toward lengthening days and the coming solstice. And sense that still point within, your fulcrum about which your entire life can be balanced.
The Wildness of Spring
As predicted it is in the mid-50s today and going to the mid-60s for St Patty’s day here in Colorado. Mother earth will be wearing some green tomorrow along with all the Irish and pseudo-Irish like me. Hey, I figure I’m half Norwegian and I know there was a lot of mixing back in the Viking day; I’m certain to have some of the “raiding blood” in my veins along with some of the Celtic from the Emerald Isle. Anyway, that’s my story and I”m sticking to it!
Did you feel the impact of the dying Moon yesterday and the zap of the new? She was reborn out of the heart of the Sun at 3:01 pm MDT. I felt her birth pangs pretty strongly with a restless night and wild and crazy dreams. I’m glad I’m through that one more time and can get on with all the excitement the waxing Moon will bring.
Speaking of wild, Don’s essay on his harbingers of Spring yesterday included a call from the wilder side. I must be feeling that call as well; every place I look and word I read has some reference to wildness too often buried and ignored in the overly domesticated world we now live in. Of course, this is a choice we make. We can stay safe and snug in our artificial world of light and sound, a tasteless and scentless environment of air-conditioned tameness, or we can join Don on a hike, whether in Colorado on the Section16/Palmer Trail or wherever you live. The wild is never that far away that we can’t choose to join and run with it. A deer in our yard this morning seemed to want to come right up on the deck and join us; maybe the wild are hearing the call of the tame!
I’m reading a collection of William Stafford poems selected and introduced by Robert Bly: “The Darkness Around Us Is Deep.” Just the title says a lot. I found this remark by Bly on the subject of domestication and wildness particularly apropos: “The artist owes language to the human community but owes his or her breathing body to the animal community. Every poem we write, every day we live, we think about what we owe to each. By knowing what to take from the world of culture and what to give back, what to take from the world of animals and what to give back, we become adults.” And this applies to more than artists, poets. We all have breathing bodies; we are closer to the wild things “out there” than we might sometimes wish to think! When do we free ourselves to “walk on the wild side”? It is good to stop talking and start walking!
Or, as Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ in “Women Who Run With the Wolves” writes: “Go back and stand under that one red flower and walk straight ahead for that last hard mile. Go up and knock on the old weathered door. Climb up to the cave. Crawl through the window of a dream. Sift the desert and see what you find. It is the only work we have to do. You wish psychoanalytical advice? Go gather bones.” She is referring here to plumbing the depths of the psyche – exactly where the wild things run. And what better way to do this than in the depths of the physical as well!
Gaia, Mother Earth, is a wild Goddess. She is fiercely protective of her children, all whom she bears. Read what She did to Uranus, Father Sky, through Cronos and his adamantine blade when she learned Uranus was hiding away her offspring!
It’s a beautiful day here in Colorado. What are you doing today to get in touch with the wildness in you? Whatever it is, be careful out there!
Spring is just around the corner; not that we are anxious!
Our “little or no accumulation” of snow yesterday amounted to three inches! It is melting quickly today and tomorrow will be in the 60s. I love this time of year with fickle weather, unexpected returns to winter and wonderful hints of Spring. Newness is in the air and everywhere I look.
Today we have a new moon bringing in a fresh look to the evening skies and the energy of the planet. It’s a great time to let go of old stuff, whatever that is. The old moon is taking its last breath and will sweep away any of the “clutter” that might be holding you back. And on Saturday as the Sun moves into Aries to begin the new astrological year, Spring rolls in with it. The Vernal Equinox on Saturday is the day of balance between light and dark. It is this balance that is required in everything. If we are to bring in new then old must be chucked.
Persephone is the Greek Goddess of Spring. She’s the Goddess captured by Haides and abducted to the Underworld to be his wife. She was rescued but still had to spend some of her time with Haides. She returned from her Underworld sojourn in Spring and brought with her fresh growth and new beginnings. She returned to Haides for the balance of her time in the fall as growth ended in withering and death. Persephone’s story reminds me of Inanna’s which is much older and the likely basis for the Greek stories.
So, we look for Persephone’s return! I saw my first Robin last week no doubt looking for sluggish, still nearly frozen worms. In telling this story at our Sunday Celebration yesterday I reminded Don of his story on his harbingers of spring. It is so good I am including it here for your enjoyment:
Harbingers of Spring
The return of the robin, businesslike in his red vest industriously extracting earthworms from the front lawn, is a sign of Spring so enshrined in American art and literature that it is almost a cliché. So, too, is the first crocus, small and delicate in the garden testing the cold air and the lingering snow as it reaches up, opening itself to the sunshine of the lengthening days. Despite the overused words and oft reproduced images recapitulating these annual events, the events themselves are new and fresh each year. For many, they herald not only the biological reawakening of a new growing season but also a personal emotional revitalization.
For much of the time when I was growing up in the 1940’s and 50’s, the only water we had fell from the sky or was hauled from a spring in jugs and cans. And, even after we got water from a pipeline, our attempts to grow a garden or a lawn met with limited success. So, the harbingers of Spring which touched my youthful soul (and still touch me the most deeply) were different, wilder, more robust.
Spring was heralded, not by the robin, but by the meadow lark standing erect on a fence post, yellow bib bared to the world, loudly trilling a crisp melodious flute like greeting to all, as I passed on my walk to school. Rather than the smooth petite crocus of the garden, I saw the floral face of Spring in the larger, hairy, almost disheveled, yet delicately beautiful pasque flower.
If I could choose to live again the Springtime of my life, I would again choose to live it where the meadow lark announces the season of reawakening.
Perhaps that is one reason I am passionate preserving those wild places where our increasingly urbanized and regulated community can reconnect with the meadow lark and the pasque flower, the dynamic order of nature in contrast to the designed and manicured order of the city.
Walk the Section 16 trail connect with the pasque flowers.
We are at the beginning of a new season!
Don Ellis
Thanks, Don!
What are your harbingers for this wonderful season of newness and growth?
Mother Love; Goddess Love
We are all glad it’s Friday; even those of us who are fortunate enough to be “retired” from the corporate world still appreciate Friday evenings. I don’t know if this is such a well traveled rut for me that Fridays just feel better or if I am still enough in that weekly cycle, “the grind”, to continue to appreciate the more relaxed feeling that comes from closing down, at least a little bit, for this time of the week. I’ll be doing that as soon as I publish this!
A few days ago I mentioned the name of an Indian Holy Woman Rosemary and I have known and been following for a long time – probably close to 15 years now, since she started touring the US in 1995. She goes on a yearly tour of the West through the late spring and summer months to bring the teachings of her Hindu faith to her many thousands of followers here. She teaches from the Vedas, she initiates into powerful practices and she renews hope in the beauty and purpose of humanity. Mostly she brings the incredible power of a Mother’s Love for all of her “children.” And unless you’ve experienced her or someone like her, there is no describing the feeling of love she vibrates when she calls us her children and “her babies.”
Her name is Sri Karunamayi; but we all call her Amma, Mother in her native language, Telugu. And you can read about this remarkable woman at: www.karunamayi.org.
I have participated in many activities with Amma over the years: I have sat in silence with her at several of her retreats; I have done pranayama breathing exercises with her before and after meditation; I have been initiated into several chants, including the ancient and powerful Gayatri Mantra; I have chanted the Sri Saraswati Mantra to greet her and to wish her farewell; I have experienced personal darshan with her and received her blessing; and I have bowed to the floor to touch her precious feet; mostly I have just been in her presence and that’s enough to feel again that Motherly Love we all long for and deserve, no matter our age! We all need to feel that kind of unconditional love.
Sri Karunamayi is a devotee and, I believe, Avatar of Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of Learning. You will notice that Amma uses many of Saraswati’s symbols including swan and peacock. Saraswati is always portrayed with a Veena, an ancient Indian stringed instrument. According to saisathyasai.com: “The Veena points to the collective sound of all our thoughts and actions as it is manifest as music in the cosmic universe.” Amma’s voice is an echo of that “collective sound” and stays with one always.
That word: Avatar, is much in our language these days with the extraordinary movie by that name, video games in which players take on avatars, and even blogs where we can post our own “gravatars.” What is this about? Are we looking to take on a new persona to escape our own? Are we anxious to embody a powerful archetype to empower ourselves in a dis-empowering world? Amma is one woman who has done this, not to escape, but, indeed, to move fully into that Goddess energy and embrace the duties and responsibilities expected of a Goddess. Not many people can do this. Amma braved many hardships in order to accomplish what she has. And she continues to embrace her role in the very deepest sense. These world tours she takes on are not easy. I’ve seen first hand the logistics involved in her cross-country treks. Take a look at her tour schedule and you will know this is a rugged life!
And she does this all for love, for her children. Her Western tours are for both teaching and for fund raising. You can read about her many missions on her site. Just as one example she is building houses for displaced refugees. For our 25th wedding anniversary in 2008, Rosemary and I asked that all gifts be given in the name of SMVA Trust specifically to build one of these houses. I am pleased that we raised the $1100 to do just that, thanks to friends and family and a little extra from us.
If you want to experience Amma’s Mother Love, this pure Saraswati Goddess Love check her tour schedule and find a way to be in her presence this year!
As an aside but still related, I received the most magnificent and long awaited gift in the mail today. I had ordered a Tibetan style felted wool vest from a charming little website mid-February. (www.eternalknots.com) These vests and jackets are made by Tibetan refugees in Nepal and all the money goes to them, for feeding mothers and children among others. I can tell from the handiwork and care in the vest’s construction that this is a product of Love, a Mother’s Love to feed her children, and even love for some stranger on the other side of Mother Earth. I felt this high vibration of love as soon as I tried it on; and, of course, it fits beautifully. Order one for yourself or as a gift. But don’t expect instant gratification; it’s a long way to Nepal, even by “express mail”!
What a lovely way to begin the weekend. Namaste!
Balance Point; Tipping Point
It’s another beautiful day in Colorado. I’m sorry if some of you get tired of hearing this, but I mention it again today because we are heading toward Vernal Equinox, that balancing point in our solar calendar when Father Sun rides over the equator and our days and nights are balanced in length; equal periods of light and dark. It’s a good time of the year for many things, one of which is to examine our lives to determine if we are in balance.
Jeremy’s comment on yesterday’s post deserves a new post rather than just a reflexive comment. He makes some excellent points about balance as a goal for humans as individuals and human society. This balance includes taking a close look at the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine energies in ourselves. And this inner balance is essential to any possible outer balance that we can achieve, whether by 2012 or some other specific date in the calendar.
So, why have I chosen to focus this blog on the Goddess, and specifically on men’s relationships to the Goddess? Jeremy is correct: we need God and Goddess, ” both the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine. The Two work together in symbiosis, yin and yang, in harmony, balancing One Another.” But as I look around and as I review my approaching 65 years on the planet I fail to see much balance. It is not news that we live in a masculine dominated world. And while there have been feeble attempts to change that in a few places this dominance continues. There have been many books written about this, how it came to be, why it continues to be and how it might be changed. A wonderful book, “Chalice and the Blade” by Riane Eisler, is one example. She examines the shift from Matriarchy to Patriarchy which took place somewhere in the neighborhood of 5000 years ago, around Inanna’s time and her decline. There are lessons for us in that shift if we are to look for ways to come back into balance.
I am not examining Men and the Goddess to bring back a matriarchal society. I may think it would be better than what we have now, but it would still lack balance. Ms. Eisler promotes the idea of a “partnership society.” Men and women have different strengths, they come with different attitudes, perspectives, sensitivities (and different plumbing!). There is value in each world view. There is more value in a balanced approach, a partnership.
How do we achieve this balance? This is where we get to my purpose: we need to know as much as we possibly can about the other sex as we can learn. And for some of us men this can begin by examining the inner feminine; working with her; meditating on her and with her and through her; viewing the world through her eyes; feeling with her heart; thinking with her feminine brain. Many of us have trouble with this; many of us can’t even understand these words!
Rosemary and I have taught a weekend seminar called “Empowerment Principles for Peace.” During the weekend we examine and get in touch with the inner feminine and the inner masculine; we conclude the weekend with a “mystical marriage” of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine within each individual. It is a powerful weekend. The last time we taught it in Seattle, only women showed up! And I have attended many spiritual classes, workshops, advanced trainings in various forms of self-examination and spiritual practices in which the preponderance of attendees are women. How do we get men to look into themselves and get in touch with their feminine selves?
I am stressing the Goddess and my relationship to Her, and to my inner Divine Feminine to begin to over-balance toward Feminine energy, even toward matriarchy if that’s what it will take. We need to reach a tipping point toward the feminine before we can discover where that balance point may be. We exist in a lop-sided society, and as we watch our US government grind to a stand-still, I believe we exist in a rapidly crumbling society. We need the partnership of men and women to get us through this tipping point and to the other side of human relationship, human society, human survival!
If you are in Colorado Springs on Sunday there is a good opportunity to take a look at this issue of balance; my good friend and colleague, Finbarr Ross, will be speaking on: “Sacred Union in a World in Transition” during our Sundays at The Center celebration at The Center for Powerful Living at 11:00 am. For details: www.SundaysatTheCenter.org.
Where is that tipping point? I don’t know; but I’m pushing toward the feminine pole in an attempt to find it. When I find the tipping point I’ll have a better feel for where the balance point can be found!
Men and The Goddess 